Writs of the Setertiamillenniary
The Writs of the Setertiamillenniary (Eurasian: Constitutio Setertiamillennii) are the highest governing document in the Empire of Eurasia, superseding all other laws and legislation. They are equivalent to the constitutions of many republics. It was last revised by Emperor Marinus in 1950 with the Writ of the Restitution. The exact translation is inscribed below, along with a discussion of the purpose behind each. Writ of Divine Authority (Eurasian: Constitutio Auctoritatis Divinis) Wherefore the people of the Eurasian Empire, beset by warfare and bloodshed immeasurable, desire for the restoration of the Imperial Throne and the refiliation of the Sacred Imperium to the descendents of the Divine Julius. Thus does His Imperial Majesty Cephorus, Pious and Blessed, Restorer of the Faith, Emperor of the Eurasian Empire, declare the establishment of the Writs of the Setertiamillenniary. Vested in the unassailable personage of the Emperor of Eurasia, Highest Priest and Unconquered Magnificence Incarnate, is the Divine Authority and Sacred Nobility of the gods themselves. The Emperor is the highest and greatest summit of Eurasia, and in him is embodied the virtuousness and honorbound majesty of all Eurasians. Purpose The Writ of Divine Authority, though the shortest of the writs, is one of the most important due to the political precedent it set. While previously Emperors could and had successfully claimed divinity, it had never been officially codified in such a direct manner. Thus, the writ established that all Emperors from Julius Eurasius onwards were in fact divine manifestations of the power of the gods, effectively creating an early cult of personality. While the intention behind this distinction was to prevent future rebellions such as the War of Succession, mainly by stating that an attack on an Emperor was an attack on the gods themselves, it laid the groundwork for more autocratic emperors such as Laurentius III to eliminate rivals and consolidate power through claiming of divine right. The Writ of Divine Authority was partially revised in the Marinian Reforms. Writ of Empire (Eurasian: Constitutio Imperii) Wherefore manifestation of the unitary and magistratorial power of the State shall be solely in the personage of the Emperor himself, whereby no other may claim the title "Emperor of Eurasia" et cetera. The Emperor shall be the one ruler of the Empire, and shall be accorded the means and the right to adjudicate all laws prescribed by the people and their legislature. Command of the Military shall be vested solely in the Emperor of Eurasia and any deemed by him to be worthy of commanding the fearsome presence instilled therein. No other save the Emperor may command the military save with his express, written, and affirmed allowance. The passage of any pronouncement senatorial shall be enacted by the Emperor himself. The Emperor may halt the passage of any law should it be passed to him by application of the veto, after which the law may not be reconsidered for a period of five years. Revocation of any imperial veto may be issued by the individual vested with the powers of Emperor of Eurasia at any time before the expiration of the abovementioned time period. The Imperial Throne shall be embodied solely by a free-born Eurasian citizen fully descended from the Bloodline of the Divine Julius. No individual of bastardized lineage or impure filiation shall occupy the imperial throne, unless all heirs of proper delineation are no deceased. The Emperor of Eurasia shall serve in the stead as First Citizen and Highest Ruler for the term of his natural life. The sole faith of the Empire, the way of our ancestors, shall be presided over by the Emperor of Eurasia in his stead as Pontifex Maximus, highest priest of Eurasia and of the Emperor. No other individual may act as the Pontifex Maximus save by the grace of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. Upon the death of the Emperor, the office shall revert to the possession of the State, to be filled by the successor of the deceased Emperor upon acclaimation from the Collegium Pontificum. Purpose The Writ of Empire defines the role of Emperor of Eurasia, and thus establishes the unique autocracy created in the Eurasian Empire. It also heavily reorganized the structure of the Privy Council, the equivalent to many nations' executive cabinets, into the modern-day structure. The writ also specifically established that the Emperor was the Pontifex Maximus by birthright, a change from the previous system, under which the Emperor was accorded the sacred office through the Senate. While that proved useful previously, as during the Interregnum the Senate had refused to grant to Potema Eurasia the title of Pontifex Maximus, Cephorus sought to consolidate power in the Imperial throne to prevent a future usurper from claiming the title, as it would automatically revert to the State and could not be claimed without the support of the Collegium Pontificum. Writ of Assembly (Eurasian: Constitutio Conventi) The voice of the people shall be manifest in the Senate of the Empire, which shall be comprised of 600 voting members. Each member shall be representative of a population of the province from which they hail. The Senate shall elect unto themselves governing officers, manifest of which shall be the highest elected official, the Consul. The Senate shall meet in the Curia Iunia in Julium, and no other building shall hold Senatorial deliberations unless authorized by the Senate. The Proconsuls of the Senate shall be in addition to the 600 member body. A proconsul must be a member of a Patrician house, and must be admitted to the Senate upon the death of the office-holder by confirmation in the Senate. The number of proconsuls a patrician house may possess shall be determined by the Emperor, but may not exceed that of the House of Eurasius. The Consul shall be a member of the Senate, having attained the age of at least twenty-five years, and shall not have previously held the title of Consul thrice previously. The Consul shall be elected for a term of five years, after which he shall be eligible for reelection only if he has not served thrice before. He shall hold ultimate say in what matters the Senate discusses and in what manner they discuss them. The Consul may be removed from office given a 4/5 majority of Senators voting in favor and with the assent of the Emperor. A Consul must be a free born Eurasian. A Senator shall be at least twenty years of age, and shall have been either free born or been emancipated at an age younger than eight. A Senator shall represent the Province from which he claims residence, and may not represent a Province in which he does not reside. A Senator shall serve the Senate for a minimum of five years, and may return to the Senate so many times as the province he represents permits. The Senate shall meet at least twice per year for a period of 100 days. At no point may the Senate adjourn sine die. The Emperor may, without the consent of the Senate, call for Senatorial elections at any time and dissolve the current makeup of the Senate. A Senator may be removed from office if a referendum is put to the people of the province and is approved of with a 3/4 majority. Purpose The Writ of Assembly establishes the Imperial Senate of Eurasia as the untiary legislative body of the Empire. It also established the parameters under which the Consul of the Imperial Senate would function. Term limits and the general number of Senators were also finally codified. Prior to the set number of 600, the makeup of the Senate was largely at the discretion of the Emperor, who could increase the size of the body general as needed. The definition of a minimum age for Senators was also a new step by Cephorus, who wanted to prevent the addition of young and easily controlled Senators by future Emperors. The writ also established how a Senator might be removed. Prior to that addition, an Emperor could summarily dismiss a Senator with which he had disagreement. Now, it gave more power to the Eurasian people to be representated, as opposed to simply maintaining the appearance of representation. Writ of Magistracy (Eurasian Constitutio Iudicis) Any free-born or emancipated Eurasian citizen shall be entitled to the rights of fair judgement under the laws of the Empire. Established shall be the proper magistracy of the Empire under which all laws shall be interpreted and by which all shall be judged before the gods and before their fellow citizens. No Eurasian citizen shall be guilty of judgement ad populem nor shall he be guilty without proper adjudication by a right-elected magistrate. A tribunal shall be composed of a magistrate elected by the people. A magistrate may not be elected if he is not a free-born Eurasian citizen of at least twenty years of age. A magistrate may be removed from office if 4/5 of voting citizens in a referendum ascend to the decision. Magistrates must be reelected every five years. The magistracy shall be divided as described hereafter. The lowest tribunals shall be composed of a single magistrate, and shall administer the laws of the Empire at a provincial level. These inferior tribunals shall be divided amongst criminal tribunals and property tribunals. A free-born or emancipated Eurasian citizen shall maintain the ability to bring suit against another free-born or emancipated Eurasian citizen as permitted by Imperial law. Emancipated citizens may not bring suit against free-born citizens. Medial tribunals shall be the area of appeal for free-born or emancipated citizens who wish to dispute the ruling of an inferior tribunal. These tribunals shall be composed of an unelected magistrate appointed by the provincial government, though he may be nominated by the people in a referendum. A medial tribunal may dispense with the ruling of the inferior courts if it so chooses, or it may choose to uphold the prior ruling. A medial magistrate shall serve for a period of five years each term. Superior tribunals shall be composed of a single magistrate elected solely by the provincial assembly for a period of ten years. Should a medial tribunal dispense with an inferior ruling a superior tribunal shall rule on the matter if the parties to the case choose further appellation. The highest tribunal of appellation in a province shall be the Provincial Tribunal, made up of a diet of magistrates appointed by the provincial assembly. This tribunal shall be the final area of appellation for parties wishing to challenge a ruling. Should the Provincial Tribunal rule to uphold the prior tribunal's ruling, the appellant may choose further appellation. The highest magistracy in the Empire shall be the Supreme Tribunal of Cassation, whose residence shall be manifest in Julium. It shall be composed of a diet of nine justices, amongst whom shall be chosen a Supreme Magistrate. The magistrates of the tribunal shall be elected by the Senate and shall have no limitation to the time for which they serve. The Supreme Tribunal may choose to either uphold the previous ruling or alter it in any manner they see fit. The Tribunal shall be the principal authority in interpreting these Writs and any law of the Empire. The Emperor himself and the Imperial Throne shall be immune to all prosecution and all wrongdoing. An Emperor may not be compelled to appear before any tribunal unless he so desires. No man, free-born citizen, or emancipated slave shall have the right to bring suit against the Emperor. The Emperor is forbidden from interferring with tribunal decisions, and should a tribunal institute a decision against a law or pronouncement of the Emperor the Emperor shall be obliged to comply. Purpose The Writ of Magistracy establishes the judicial system of the Empire in its present form. Prior to the reforms, the judiciary had grown infamously corrupt, with many judges outright accepting bribes in the courtroom. With the reforms, it allowed citizens a means to remove corrupt magistrates, as well as a means to appeal corrupt decisions to an uncorrupted court in the provincial capital or in Julium. The creation of the system of appealing was also a new innovation, as well as the division of courts to prevent court overload. Prior to the development of the new system, some tribunals in more rural areas serviced very few issues at all, whilst others in larger cities were sometimes behind by years. The new system diversified the caseload and allowed tribunals to focus on issues intrinsic to them instead of all cases at once. Writ of Province (Eurasian Constitutio Provinciarum) The Empire shall be hereafter divided into provinces. The specific division shall be prescribed by the Senate, and there shall be no requirement for a province to exist save those codified by the Senate it its discretion. A province shall not be in any way superior to the Empire as a whole, and if the Senate so chooses the system of provincialization may be dissolved sine die without justification. A province shall not maintain the right to enact its own internal laws. All Imperial laws as prescribed by the Senate shall be enacted universally amongst all provinces and shall not be superseded in any way. A province shall be headed by a provincial Praetor, who shall administrate and govern the province in a manner similar to a nonprovinced governorate. A praetor shall be a free-born Eurasian citizen having attained twenty years of age and being a resident of the province of which they shall govern. A praetor shall be elected by popular acclamation and shall be responsible for general governance of a province. Praetors shall be responsible for the enforcement of Imperial law within a province, as well as with maintaining the efficacy of the provincial governments. Provinces shall maintain a provincial assembly, which may take a form whose discretion is left to the province itself. The assembly may not pass laws in a manner similar to the Senate, but instead shall be vested with the responsibility to interpret the manner in which the laws should be applied to the provinces, as well as establishing the internal divisions of provincial administration. All provinces shall be further divided into prefectures, which shall be headed by prefects. A prefect shall be a free-born Eurasian having attained the age of twenty and having resided within the prefecture they are to head for five years. A prefecture is subject to imperial law as well as to provincial interpretation of imperial law. Should a province desire it, it may dissolve the prefectural divisions in favor of a unity at any time. Prupose Writ of Granada (Eurasian: Constitutio Granadae) The Granadan Compromise, as agreed to by Emperors prior and upheld for time immemorial, shall be heretofore codified as supreme law amongst the Empire of Eurasia. The area comprising Granada and the surrounding lands under nearby native control shall be known as Granada. Granada shall exist as a Superior province of the Empire, but shall be accorded the rights of an autonomous protectorate. Those born in Granada shall be entitled to the same rights free-born Eurasians are to be entitled. Emancipated Granadans are to be accorded the same rights as emancipated persons in Eurasia. The structure of the Granadan Government, as agreed to under the Granadan Compromise, shall not be subject to direct Imperial control. The Emperor of Eurasia shall be thus the Emperor of Granada, however the Grand Senator of the Senate of Granada shall be accorded the same status as the Archduchy of Falcrine. Granada shall be permitted to accord unto itself its own internal division of provincialism, and provinces of Granada shall be considered provinces of the Empire of Eurasia, though the Imperial Government shall not exercise direct control over internal provincial affairs. Internal distinctions given to aforementioned provinces shall be considered similar to divisions of Eurasian Provinces as described in the Writ of Province. The writs enscribed as the supreme law of the Empire of Eurasia shall be undertaken with the same sacrosanctity and well-due importance in Granada as in the Empire itself. Granada is permitted to codify its own internal writs or constitutive documents, but any accorded therein shall not take precedence above these writs. Purpose Writ of Emancipation (Eurasian: Constiutio Emancipationis) Adopted 1843 Wherefore the practice of enforced servitude has existed throughout the Empire of Eurasia for time immemorial, the people of Eurasia desire the abolition of such practices. The institution of enforced servitude, known also as "slavery", is heretofore ended amongst the free-born peoples of Eurasia and of Arveyres. No person within the legal bounds of Eurasia or its provinces shall be compelled to work enslaved for any master. All slaves within Eurasia are hereby freed of their bonds. Purpose